Next week, as farmers on Wednesday declared a four-hour national ‘road roko’ (rail blockade) on February 18, the ongoing agitation against the Centre’s three agricultural laws is expected to escalate.
The announcement comes hours after a speech in Lok Sabha by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he called on the protesting farmers to come to the table to resume talks.
For more than two months, thousands of farmers, primarily from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at several border points in the national capital, calling for the repeal of three agricultural laws.
The Centre has held several rounds of formal consultations with farmers’ representatives to address the issue of farm laws, but has not found any meaningful compromise with the unions.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of the protesting farmers’ unions, also declared in a statement that from February 12, toll collection in Rajasthan would not be permitted.
“From 12 pm to 4 pm on February 18, there will be a ” rail roko ” across the country,” the SKM that is spearheading the protest said in the statement.
Earlier this month, the farmer organisations had observed a three-hour road blockade to press their demand of scrapping the three laws.